As Judith Barter has noted of the present sheet, at the time of its exhibition in 1980, ‘Shirlaw (1839-1909) was a Munich trained artist whose Self Portrait reflects the Munich emphasis on dramatic darks, impasto brushwork, and simple subject matter. This work is romantic in feeling, playing upon the theme of the intense, sensitive artist. But it is also realistic.’ Of the same drawing, Colin Eisler has written, ‘Self-cast as the Great American Bohemian Hero, Walter Shirlaw stares out balefully at his mirrored image, recreated with very considerable skill. His pose and gaze recall those of Poe, or Stevenson, or Baudelaire – men of letters as well as dandies – equally interested in how they see as in how they look.’A painted self-portait by Shirlaw, dated 1878, is in the Art Institute of Chicago, while another is in the collection of the National Academy of Design in New York.